Sonic X

is a Japanese anime television series based on Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' video game series. Produced by TMS Entertainment under partnership with Sega and Sonic Team, and directed by Hajime Kamegaki, ''Sonic X'' initially ran for 52 episodes, broadcasting on TV Tokyo, which edited it and created new music.

The series follows a group of anthropomorphic animals that accidentally teleport from their home planet to Earth after attempting to save one of their friends from their enemy Doctor Eggman. Separated, Sonic the Hedgehog is saved by a human boy named Chris Thorndyke, who helps him find his friends while repeatedly scuffling with Doctor Eggman and his robots over control of the powerful Chaos Emeralds, and becoming celebrities. The final story arc sees Sonic and his friends return with Chris to their world, where they enter outer space with a newfound plant-like creature named Cosmo and fight an army of aliens called the Metarex.

''Sonic X'' received mixed reviews. Generally, reviewers criticized its American localization and the human characters, but praised its story and animation. The series was popular in the United States and France, though less so in its native Japan. The show's merchandise included an edutainment video game for the Leapster, a trading card game, a comic book series featuring an original storyline, and various toys and other items.

Plot

Season 1

Following a battle between Sonic the Hedgehog and Doctor Eggman, a freak accident involving the seven Chaos Emeralds causes them to create "Chaos Control"—a powerful space-time force that causes both of them, along with Miles "Tails" Prower, Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit and her pet Chao Cheese, Knuckles the Echidna, and Rouge the Bat, to be transported to a parallel universe containing Earth. Sonic and his friends find themselves landing in the city of Station Square, where they befriend twelve-year-old Christopher "Chris" Thorndyke—a lonely young boy, whose parents, movie-star mother Lindsey, and corporate executive father Nelson, tend to be absent with work, leaving him to be looked after by his grandfather Chuck, maid and chef Ella, and butler Mr. Tanaka.

Seeking to find the Chaos Emeralds in order to go home, the group battle against Eggman as he re-establishes himself on the planet in order to conquer it—aided by his bumbling robotic assistants Becoe and Decoe, and his robotic courier Bokkun—with Rouge joining forces with the local government as a spy in order to help them defend against his attacks. In the course of battling Eggman, Sonic and the others befriend Chris' friends Danny, Frances and Helen, while slowly becoming celebrities thanks to their exploits, eventually being accepted amongst the human population, despite reservations of what might happen when the seven Chaos Emeralds are found.

Season 2

Six months after the Chaos Emeralds are found and used by Sonic in his Super Sonic form, Chaos Control causes parts of their world to appear on Earth, including Angel Island and the Master Emerald, along with the arrival of Big the Cat and his pet Froggy. Whilst the group adapt to this and carry on with their lives, the government works to establish better defences in anticipation of another attack by Eggman, including the creation of a robotic army to counter the evil scientist's own creations. Much of the first half of this season is focused on adaptations of both '' Sonic Adventure'' and '' Sonic Adventure 2''. After Station Square is rebuilt following the attack by Chaos, and Sonic and Shadow prevent Space Colony ARK from crashing into Earth, another Chaos Control event brings several inhabitants of Sonic's world to the planet, including the Chaotix Detective Agency— Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, and Charmy Bee—and Vanilla, Cream's mother.

Eggman launches further schemes following the ARK incident, even when briefly captured by the government, whilst Sonic and his friends provide shelter for a robot named Emerl, who later goes on the rampage after coming into possession of a Chaos Emerald and forcing Cream to stop it (the story arc being a loose adaption of '' Sonic Battle''). Eventually, after Eggman is thwarted from another world conquering scheme, the government learns that Earth and Sonic's world are slowly merging together, threatening to end time for them. As a result, Sonic, Eggman, and the others are forced to return home to prevent this, with Chris having to bravely allow his new friends to go, but with hope of seeing them again.

Season 3

Six months after returning home, Sonic and his friends find themselves battling a new threat in the form of the Metarex—a race of villainous robots who seek to conquer the galaxy—aided by Cosmo, an antromorphic plant girl, who seeks to stop them. At the same time on Earth, where six years have passed, Chris finishes completing a portal device to take him to Sonic, arriving in his world to assist with his new found knowledge, despite the differences in time between the two worlds causing his body to revert back to that of his 12 year-old self. Departing their world, the group explore the galaxy for the Chaos Emeralds, after Sonic had to disperse them to avoid them being used by the Metarex. Alongside the group, Eggman also pursues after the Emeralds, accompanied by Rouge, and aided by Shadow, whom he had recovered following his supposed demise.

Much of the journey sees Tails and Cosmo bonding, while Eggman secretly sides with the Metarex in order to uncover their plans, with the Chaotix Detective Agency also journeying into space and providing assistance where they can. The series reaches its conclusion with the group learning of the Metarex's origins, and both groups battling them to prevent them taking full control of the galaxy, culminating in both Cosmo and Shadow sacrificing themselves to achieve this.

History

Creation and development

The show was created by TMS Entertainment, the animation subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings. It was primarily influenced by other anime rather than work from the West, and was created for a Japanese audience. Yuji Naka, then the head of Sonic Team, filled in as executive producer, and Satoshi Hirayama designed all of the original characters, basing the designs on Yuji Uekawa's original concept. Most of the series consists of original content featuring new as well as established characters, but the second season is mostly based on the plots of '' Sonic Adventure'', '' Sonic Adventure 2'', and '' Sonic Battle''. While traditionally animated, it includes non-outlined CGI elements for things such as Sonic's homing attack.

Two trailers for the series were produced. The first was developed before Cheese had been given a name in '' Sonic Advance 2'' (2002); it referred to Cheese simply as "Chao". It was made up largely of footage that would later appear in the series' intro, but also of unused scenes featuring unique anthropomorphic people. Sega showed off the second, which was narrated in Japanese, at its booth at the World Hobby Fair video gaming event on February 19, 2003. It consisted mostly of scenes from the first few episodes, followed by introductions to the main characters. However, it also showed a still frame of a silver anthropomorphic hedgehog who never appeared in the series. Fans nicknamed the character "Nazo", based on the Japanese word for . Years later, on April 20, 2015, Sonic Team producer Takashi Iizuka clarified the character was simply Super Sonic in its early contour.

Several of the Japanese performers had voiced their characters in the games, but they were also given ample information about their characters' roles in the anime. Chris' voice actress Sanae Kobayashi was not sure she would be able to effectively communicate Chris' growth as a person owing to Sonic's presence, but found that a worthwhile goal. Chikao Ōtsuka, who voiced Eggman, found him a difficult character to play due to the tension in his voice and the desire to have children who watched the show recognize the character as a villain but not hate him.

Iizuka believed that ''Sonic X'' and its merchandise, along with the game '' Sonic Heroes'', had helped expose the ''Sonic'' franchise to a new generation of potential gamers in 2003, and he dubbed it a "Sonic Year" as a result. More boldly, Naka hoped that ''Sonic X'' alone would cause the popularity of the ''Sonic'' series to skyrocket, as that of the ''Pokémon'' series did after its anime adaptation was first released.

Broadcast and localization

North America

4Kids Entertainment handled the show's American localization. The episodes were heavily edited for content and length; 4Kids has been described by Destructoid as being "infamous" among anime fans for this type of overzealous editing. 4Kids removed alcohol consumption, coarse language, instances of breaking the fourth wall, and numerous sexual scenes. Unlike some other series that 4Kids translated around the early to mid 2000s, such as '' Kirby: Right Back at Ya!'', ''Sonic X'' suffered no full episodes being cut. Producer Michael Haigney personally disliked realistic violence in children's programs, but had not intended to make massive changes himself. Instead, he was bound by Fox Broadcasting Company's strict guidelines, which forbid content such as smoking and strong violence. In 2006, near the end of the show's American production, Haigney stated in an interview that he had never played a ''Sonic'' game, read the comics, or watched any of the previous ''Sonic'' animated series.

4Kids found new voice actors rather than using those from the games. 4Kids president Norman J. Grossfeld invited Jason Griffith and Mike Pollock to audition for Sonic and Eggman, having known them from their work on ''Ultimate Muscle'' and ''Kirby: Right Back at Ya!'' and chose him for his yelling and pitch-wavering talents; Pollock and Griffith also voiced Ella and Shadow. 4Kids allowed Pollock to make minor alterations to the dialogue when lines " idn'twork for some reason." He recalled being given only short samples of Eggman's voice from the games—he was not told specifically which game—and brief descriptions of his characters' roles. The rest of the cast assumed their characters' voice roles after their auditions. Beginning with ''Shadow the Hedgehog'', the cast of ''Sonic X'' would assume their respective voice roles in all Sonic games released between 2005 and 2010, at which point all the roles were recast with the exception of Mike Pollock as Eggman.

''Sonic X'' aired in Japan on TV Tokyo

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